


avant d'agir

by Amielleon



Category: Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Backrubs, Bonding, Gen, M/M, Past Sexual Abuse, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pre-Canon, Seduction, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-18 22:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4722278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amielleon/pseuds/Amielleon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Leon comes home worn out from matters of state. It's more personal for Zero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	avant d'agir

Leon came back to Castle Krakenstein with blood spattered across his armor and a serious expression on his face. Seeing this, Zero kept out of his way as Leon handed off his horse to a servant and had his armor removed. He trailed his master in the shadows as he silently made his way to his chambers.

"I know you're following me, Zero," Leon said as he opened the door.

Zero stepped out from around the corner and gave a smile. "Sharp as ever."

Sighing, he left the door open as he said, "No, you're bad at hiding. I don't know how you've lasted this long in your line of work."

Ouch. So he was in an even fouler mood than Zero had thought. At least Zero had been implicitly invited to follow—Zero stepped into his lord's chambers, turning on the lamp and closing the door behind them.

Leon let out a tremendous sigh and fell into his bed, staring sideways at his window. His bangs were stuck to his forehead with sweat, and his underclothes clung to his back in dark patches. Despite typically being fastidiously clean, he hadn't even bothered to take off his boots, instead letting his feet dangle off of the side of the bed.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Zero approached him and gently tugged at his boots.

Leon obligingly angled his feet so that the boots would come off. "We raided the hideout of a crime lord today." Zero took the boots, and was setting them by the bureau when Leon continued, "He had half a dozen kept boys."

Zero's heart started to race. "Oh?" he said calmly, lingering under the pretense of neatly arranging the boots.

"Mm. Marx had them brought in with the rest, for sodomy. I don't know. They seem too young to face the sentence that awaits them."

Not yet knowing exactly what he was about to do, Zero impulsively palmed a vial of oil from the top of the bureau. With the vial up his sleeve, he came back to his lord's side and sat on the edge of the bed.

"But he's right," Leon continued as he stared past Zero. "If we don't punish the followers, people won't stop joining these gangs. And this problem will continue."

In the stretch of silence that followed, Zero made up his mind. He adjusted himself to face Leon and laid a hand above his shoulderblade. Leon flinched in surprise, looking at Zero with his eyebrows raised in question.

"You seem tense, milord."

"I _am_ tense. What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of some of that tension." Zero leaned over and laid both hands across Leon's upper back, pressing his fingers lightly against the muscles there. As he rubbed lightly in circles, the linen of Leon's undershirt wearing down his fingertips, Leon didn't immediately protest. He regarded Zero with a poker face that he recognized well—trying to understand what Zero was planning. "How's this?"

"A little weird," Leon said frankly, "but not bad."

"Hmm," Zero hummed, working at his shoulderblades until Leon relaxed—eyelids lowering, shoulders sinking down toward the bed. His master was a beautiful creature, even coated lightly in sweat and dust. Zero slowly moved his hands lower, pressing down where slender ribs were faintly palpable after the muscle above them relaxed. Zero thought to himself idly that Leon was probably the youngest man he'd ever touched, with his bones yet to fully set.

"I don't suppose there's something you want to say?" Leon said. "About the situation." His mind was still churning while every muscle went limp—well, Zero expected no less.

"Me?" Zero echoed, as if the invitation came as a surprise. He drew out the pause, rubbing his palms against Leon's back so that his fingers traced down his sides. He could feel Leon exhaling deeply and inaudibly in response. "I might have a few thoughts."

Leon made a sound for him to continue. Zero's hands slowly worked their way back up, thumbs running against his spine. His palms were beginning to burn from running them over and over the undershirt, but Zero was long accustomed to ignoring it.

"If they're sentenced to castration, only the fate of those who die from blood poisoning would change. Without any other trade to feed themselves with, they'll find a new patron. One that favors eunuchs."

Zero felt Leon's hum of contemplation under his numbing fingers.

"Execution is too harsh for a first offense," Leon pondered, "even if my father might think otherwise."

"I'd agree," Zero said with a grimace. At times it unsettled him to watch how lightly the rulers of Nohr spoke about their lives. Not that anything else in the world seemed to care, either. No one but the owner of the life being taken.

"Do you think they could change if we let them go?"

Zero slid the vial from his sleeve and uncapped it in one hand, dribbling some oil into his palm, its light cool scent—Leon's favored scent—wafting into the air. It was already warm from where it had laid against his arm. He let the vial fall onto the bed.

"Zero?"

Zero laid his hands against the back of Leon's bare neck, spreading his fingers to just barely brush against the delicate skin under his jaw and behind his ears. As they trailed away, Leon drew a shuddering breath, eyes widening, voice a little strange as he said, "That's a bit much—"

"Supposing they choose to leave the trade," Zero said, "their only other options are assassination, thievery, and extortion. Not to say that it'll be to their talents. Bad at hiding, left behind by the rest of the band—well, could've just executed them."

He ran his fingers across Leon's cheeks—so lovely, flushed with color—and touched his lower lip. "Stop. You've made your point." Leon smacked his hand away and turned onto his side, away from Zero, positioning his legs to discreetly bring the fold in the front of his pants at just the right angle across his hips.

Zero smirked. Success. He'd never miss the look of a man trying to hide his erection.

Leon laid there, quietly sulking as he tried not to look uncomfortable. It would've been so easy to tease him more, but Leon was probably the only person in the world Zero had no desire to torment.

After a few moments had passed, Leon said, "I didn't know you had been a kept boy."

"I wasn't," Zero said. "Kept boys have a place to stay."

"I see." 

Leon rolled around to face Zero again. His expression was solemn as he said, "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Zero couldn't help himself. He reached over to tenderly brush his knuckles across his master's sweet little face.

Scowling, Leon pushed his hand away. "Zero! Personal space."

Zero smiled to himself as he pulled up the duvet from the end of the bed and let it fall gently over Leon's shoulders. "Can't I kiss you good night?"

" _No_."

Zero kissed his shoulder through the blankets before he went to turn off the lamp.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the French proverb " _Il faut réfléchir avant d'agir._ " It literally means "One must reflect before acting," much like English "Look before you leap."
> 
> Minor edits 12/9/15.


End file.
